Whispers
Whispers
A risky affair: Some sailors of the big double-hulled canoe who sailed from
the Cook Islands to French Polynesia and back recently, have ambitious
hopes.
They hope to sail the craft to London and think they have caught the
interest of a sponsor willing to fund the adventure. But while life on the
vaka, as the vessel is called locally, is okay for a six or seven-day run to
French Polynesia, would the somewhat restrictive features of the canoe
comfortably accommodate the rigours of rounding Cape Horn and then battling
the South and North Atlantic? Such a voyage would generate enormous
publicity for the Cook Islands. But at what risk? And did the Pacific's
canoe navigators ever manage to break into seas beyond it?
Elephantine centenarians: Air Pacific has had a slight bit of trouble in the way of a strike by some of its staff, including its cabin crew, opposed to retirement and weight limit rules applied by the airline. It seems they want to be able to fly as elephantine centenarians. Their role model is a biddy still manning the food carts of one United States airline at the age of something in excess of 70.
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Kava depression: Exports of kava from Vanuatu, Fiji, Tonga and Samoa had
dropped somewhat, actually by millions, since the assassination job probably
arranged by, those who say they know swear, pharmaceutical pill makers
feeling threatened by kava's depression combating qualities.
In Paris, in August, a medical symposium was due to hear a report by German
researchers on whether claims that kava killed consumers by damaging their
livers had any substance. Watch this column for more about this.
ACP interfacing: There were mixed views about the quality of security at the
big African, Caribbean, Pacific meeting in Fiji. Some journalists
experienced in such partying reckon that despite all the muscle flexing by
the local cops and army security bods, it was a bit of a farce.
But in one respect it worked. Many of the African delegates, finding it
difficult to whisk local ladies of the night into the swishness of the
Denarau Island resort, where the party was held, booked airport local hotel
rooms to conduct their interfacing there.
Southern Cross hope: The Fiji government hopes to exploit a link to the new
Southern Cross fibre optic cable by using it to build a multi-billion dollar
IT industry.
Most people know by now what IT is, don't they?
The government hasn't had much luck so far. People who say they know say the
big block is the somewhat high call charges applied by Fiji International
Telecommunications Limited (FINTEL), the overseas telecom biz monopoly.
According to people who reckon they know, the fault lies with the junior
owner of FINTEL, Cable and Wireless, said to be fiercely resistant to any
reduction of all its extracts from Fiji.
This begs the question of why the 51 percent senior partner, a combination
of the government and Amalgamated Telecom Holdings, owned by the Fiji
National Provident Fund, has not exerted its might by insisting on cuts some
insiders, as well as critical outsiders, insist would actually grow
business?
Southern Cross officials were in Suva in August for a look-see. The word was
that the government was hoping to persuade them to shift their headquarters
from Bermuda, where they enjoy mighty tax advantages, to Fiji, where they
can exploit what the government is assuring them would be even greater tax
dodging opportunities.
F18s on Pacific flight path: The surprise off-their-usual track appearance
of four American F18 fighters at Tarawa a few months ago on what one of the
pilots said was a business not holiday trip, has been followed by a circuit
of four other F18s from Australia through several islands countries
including Fiji and New Caledonia, and back to Australia.
Meanwhile, Papeete was preparing to receive on September 1 and 2 its very
first call by Chinese warships; two of them. Does all this mean anything
like the opening of some great power struggle?
Niue's pressing problems: In their desperate efforts to solve their island's
pressing economic difficulties, Niue's prime minister Young Vivian has
floated several hair-brained schemes presented to them by international
travellers. In August, it appeared that Niueans in general were not prepared
to swallow the latest one.
This is a proposal from a Korean sect anxious to entrench itself in a
150-hectare "walled city", to do heaven knows what, in return for pumping a
lot of cash into Niue.
Better news is that in September, Niue is expected to announce that
Polynesian Airlines will very definitely return to operate a weekly
Auckland/Niue service. Now, that is really good news!
Speight petition: Mahatma Ghandi? Nelson Mandela? This is how some admirers
of one George Speight are comparing him. One MP, Samisoni Tikoinasau is
demanding Speight's immediate release from the time (for life but really
only 10-12 years) he's doing for treason on the picnic island of Nukulau,
just off Suva. There, life is surely a picnic with the grim and condemned
for use, but still going strong Suva jail.
Tikoinausau is, of course, Speight's brother and he's getting a petition up.
There are those who suspect that getting this okayed by an official mercy
committee and then the president could be done rather more easily and
quickly than they want to think about, and that Speight might be sprung to
keep his pals happy despite disgust inside the country and out.
On the other hand, there are those who feel sure that he's personally safer
on Nukulau than roaming free.
Another cause for speculation is whether former Vanuatu prime minister,
Barak Sope, jailed for three years a couple of months ago for fraud, will be
kept in custody for anywhere near that time.
Fish catch reports: Regional fisheries folks reckon that some of the catch reports fielded by Asian fishing boats with local authorities as a condition for their licences for fishing in South Seas waters are a real chuckle. It seems that if they put in the real ones some islands governments would enjoy a steep revenue increase.
Crime busters: CLAG. Watch for them. The Cook Islands, Kiribati, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji have them and other countries are likely to form them also. CLAG is a Combined Law Agency Group. It's an outfit through which a country's law enforcement agencies can fight crime together. Hopefully!
Navigational hiccup: It's just one hiccup after another in the Solomon
Islands, where navigational equipment for guiding ships into Gizo harbour
was reported stolen in August.
So oil tanker captains are now refusing to take their ships there. "Rascals"
swiped a buoy carrying the navigational aid system, which had been installed
only a few weeks before, the Marine Department wailed. Is anyone surprised
that there's no money for replacing the gear?
Meanwhile, if you're at Gizo and you want fuel, you might have a long wait
for it.
Cooks' radar trap: The Cooks police are about to be equipped with speed
radars. The target is drivers who bust the local 40 to 60 kph (kilometres
per hour) speed limit by driving at 80 to 100 kph.
The trouble is that the gadgets will be of no use until the enactment of
laws to allow for radar trap prosecutions. Oh, and there's apparently
another little problem with the new breathalyser gear. Support law for that
is needed too.
